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RCSS Policy Studies 5 New Evangelical Movements And RCSS Policy Studies 5 New Evangelical Movements and Conflicts in South Asia Sri Lanka and Nepal in Perspective Contents Chapter 1: Introduction:Evangelism or Fundamentalism? Chapter 2: Roots in the United States and Some Significant Successes in Asia Chapter 3: Parameters of the Situation in Sri Lanka Chapter 4: Parameters of the Situation in Nepal Chapter 5: The Activities of Christian Evangelical Groups, and the Possibility of Conflict and Violence in South Asia? Bibliography CHAPTER 1: Introduction: Evangelism or Fundamentalism? Religion has been a major component in routine life in South Asia for a considerable period of time.Similarly, it has also been a major player in politics and conflict formation as well as a source for mass mobilization for socio-culturally and politically motivated millenarian or revivalist movements in the region. In India, a sense of distrust between Hindus and Muslims has become steadily institutionalized since the partition. The primaryreason for the creation of Bangladesh and Pakistan had been the religious differences between the populations in these areas and what constitutes India today.In Sri Lanka, Hinduism and Buddhism are primary markers in the cultural and ethnic identities of Sinhalas and Tamils.Such differences in identities play a major role in perpetuating the on going ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka, particularly due to the manner in which such identities areperceived and represented in popular belief and conservative academic discourse.While the mere differences in cultural identities were not the cause of the inter-ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka, the religious differences between the two groups have been manifestly used by nationalistand chauvinist politicians among both groups for sectarian purposes. What is evident from such realities is that religion is a major factor in South Asian society and politics, and one could argue that it has thepotential for conflict formation and intensification as the case of the politics of RSS has amply demonstrated in India. It is clear that the status and dynamics of religions such as Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam and their role in politics in South Asia have been extensively investigated by anthropologists and political scientists.It is also clear that in comparison, the role of Christianity in the study of religion and politics of South Asia has been largely neglected.This is particularly the case when it comes to the dynamics of Christian groups active in South Asia since relatively recent times, as opposed to Christianities which arrived in the region during European colonial expansion, often with the direct or indirect sponsorship of the rulers. Moreover as Bayly observes, South Asia’s distinctive manifestations of Christianity have been overlooked in “debates about the rise of large scale fundamentalist movements in the nations of the subcontinent” (Bayly 1994 726). What I hope to achieve in the following analysis is to place in context the socio-political role played by emerging new Christian groups specifically in Sri Lanka and Nepal, and to assess their impact as a catalyst for conflict formation in these two countries as well as the region.In doing so however, I would also be looking at comparative material from India,particularly from Kerala and TamilNadu in South India as well as material from South Korea and the Philippines. As I have noted earlier, the dynamics of a variety of Christianities (eg., Roman Catholicism, Methodists, St. Thomas Christians in Kerala etc.) in the politics and religiosity of South Asia have not been adequatelydocumented compared to the attention given to Hinduism, Islam andBuddhism in the anthropology of South Asia.While historical analyses of the origins, changes, and the expansion of these conventional Christianities -- which have been in the region since the beginning of the European colonial period, if not since much earlier -- do exist, their role in politics and the nature of influence they exert in national or regional politics or network formation are under-investigated. This is certainly the case for Sri Lanka and Nepal except for brief historical analyses of missionary activities between the 17th and early 20th centuries and intermittent journalistic interventions at specific moments in recent time -- such as the “conversion row” in Sri Lanka and Nepal in the late 1980s and 1990s. However, over the last five decades, but more clearly and specifically in the last decade or so, parts of South Asia such as Sri Lanka, and Nepal, have witnessed a rapid and relatively large influx of new Christian denominations based in Europe, North America and to a certain extent East Asia as well. In addition, a similar situation prevails in Taiwan, South Korea, Mongolia and parts of Thailand as well as parts of South America. For some time now there has been a reasonable output of scholarly andpopulist material from these areas dealing with the dynamics and politics of such new Christianities. Some of this material will be used for comparative purposes. On the other hand, one of the main goals of the present analysis would be to investigate the nature of the politics of religious conversions adopted by these groups, and the impact it has on inter-religious relations, and in general the socio-political climate in Sri Lanka and Nepal. In the light of these findings and comparative analyses, the regional consequences of these religious dynamics will also be assessed. It is also clear that much of the debate on the emerging religiouspluralism in general, and specific contexts of conversions into evangelical Christianities in particular, are camouflaged and often lost and diffused in acrimonious accusations and counter-accusations of those involved. This is particularly the case in Nepal and Sri Lanka. This is another reason why an investigation of this nature is necessary. Moreover, it is hoped that this analysis will contribute to the growing literature on religious dynamics in general and Christianities in particular, while it will also make a more visible contribution to the relative lack of knowledge on evangelical Christianities in South Asia. Locating New Christianities in South Asia: Evangelism or Fundamentalism? It seems to me that prior to proceding with this analysis it is essential -- as much as possible -- to clarify certain conceptual and terminological issues that have emerged and will continue to emerge in the study ofcontemporary religion in South Asia as well as elsewhere. The kinds of Christian groups that would be focused on in this study generally fall into the category of what I have provisionally called evangelical groups in the sense that there is a significant emphasis on all of these groups in spreading their respective faiths which also include a serious emphasis onconversions, and the overall primacy of the Bible. At the same time, scholars have also used the words Charismatics and Pentecostals to describe some of these same evangelical groups (Frykenberg 1994, Ammerman 1994, Bayly 1994).The literature on evangelical activity is replete with such terminology, often without making much terminological clarification or differentiation. On the other hand, many of these groups are also referred to as fundamentalist groups, particularly in popular discourse, but also increasingly in academic discourse as well. The use of the word “fundamentalism” in popular discourse is clearly the case in Sri Lanka where all new Christian evangelical groups arereferred to as such in both Sinhala and English by their opponents. But that word is almost never used by these groups themselves in the self- descriptions of their movements and their activities except with specific andtechnical clarifications. Thus, only a few evangelical groups in Sri Lanka such as the Worldwide Church of God and the Ceylon Every Home Crusade did refer to themselves as fundamentalist, implying merely the primacy of the Bible as the ultimate word on their worship.Similarly, Hindus,Buddhists and Catholics in Nepal who spoke to me in English referred to the new evangelical groups in their midst as fundamentalists, which was used in a clearly articulated negative idiom.But once again, those who belonged to such groups did not use that word, but instead depended on words such as the faithful, Christians, and evangelicals to refer to themselves. In the context outlined above and until definitional and conceptual problems are ironed out, I will refer to such groups simply as evangelical groups. But it should be clear that there is a certain degree of urgency in the need to clarify and iron out these conceptual issues as much as possible since the word “fundamentalism” is becoming more and more important in contemporary scholarship dealing with Christianity.Such an activity would be a prelude to this analysis because in the rhetoric of local debates and the confusion of the academic discourse internationally, the meanings of the word “fundamentalism” have often changed. Moreover, since recent times it has also been vested with much negative socio-cultural andemotional value in popular discourse in South Asia as well as in North America and Europe. Such an outcome would also impact upon the process of analysis in a study of this nature unless the politics and the rhetoric of the terminology are somehow unraveled. It has generally been accepted that the word “fundamentalism” was originally used to describe certain North American Protestant groups in the 1920 (Stirrat and Henkel 1996: 1, Ammerman 1994: 13-14).According to Ammerman, people from Protestant denominations who were initially called fundamentalists in the American context, mobilized themselves in the 1920s to “do battle royal for the fundamentals of the faith,” and their battles were waged against what they saw as degenerations within their own denominations and the American school system (Ammerman 1994: 14). This was essentially a conservative religious crusade to defendorthodox beliefs about the Bible, and also to revive what they perceived as traditional American virtues and ways of life (Ammerman 1994: 13-14).They also organized campaigns against religious liberalism in churches and the teaching of Darwinian evolutionism in schools(Ammerman 1994: 13-14).
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